We all want our brains to feel good, but sometimes they are stubborn and silly and uncooperative and BLEGH WHY. Writer and wonder-woman Rachel Jansen knows all about this, and she's hear to give us the scoop on OCD, anxiety, and why getting medicated was the right choice for her. We talk about weed and why getting high may not always be the fun escape it's made out to be, and, finally, we dish on the digital age and whether or not mental illness is something we should be tweeting about constantly. Because what if we're complicit in our own suffering?! Come "hash" it out with us on the Fainting Couch!
Reading Room
I have my mother’s hair. It is a thick, deep black—the kind she calls wūhēi. The strands fall straight down my back after I wash it, glossy and sleek like the feathers of a crow. It never holds a curl.
A pinhole projects
the moon topping the sun
onto Portia’s palm
Truth has started to call to me.
First, as wordless pain,
Turning in me quietly, pushing at my gut in the early dawn.
you don’t believe your queer friend could do this to your other queer friend.
you don’t believe your father could do this to your mother.
you don’t believe your mother could do this to your sibling.
you don’t believe your teacher could
you don’t believe your best friend could
In wielding the gun
the gunman becomes
a new kind of compound
noun, capable only of indirect
action: the expression
of hatred, making
of threats, rending
of clothes.
Currently on Newsstands
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Room 41.4, Emergence
Edited by Alissa McArthurIn this issue:
Tharuna Abbu, Farah Ali, Kristin Bjornerud, Michelle Chen, Nomi Chi, Morgan Christie, Kim Fu, Hannah Graff, nancy viva davis halifax, Ceilidh Isadore, Liz Kellebrew, Jo Lee, Kris Ly, Melanie Mah, Sara Mang, Katie McGarry, Estlin McPhee, Triin Paja, Loghan Paylor, Nagmeh Phelan, Oubah Osman, Lisa Rawn, Yvonne Robertson, Erika Thorkelson, Cara Waterfall
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Interview Room
Mica discusses the recent passing of one of her all-time favourite patriarchs, Donald, aka her grandfather, aka "the charismatic misogynist," who is proof that you can love some wholeheartedly while still being somewhat critical of their behaviour. Mica also chats about the concept of grief, cliches in the face of death, drunken emotional outbursts, and looking for signs in the wake of devastation. Tangents include a teaser for Netflix's The Princess Swap (the perfect bereavement film!) and pretentious quotes from Gwyneth Paltrow, who should not be a role model to anyone ever. Also, love you, Gramps.
Kim Fu is a Canadian-born writer, living in Seattle, Washington. Her most recent novel, The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, was published in February 2018, and her previous novel, For Today I Am a Boy, won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Fu’s debut poetry collection, How Festive the Ambulance, received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, and includes a 2017 National Magazine Awards Silver Medal winner and a Best Canadian Poetry 2016 selection. Fu, our commissioned author in the winter 2018 issue, spoke to us about writing, her featured story, “Liddy, First to Fly,” and her advice for emerging writers.
Molly and Mica chat about the innate humour of farts, how Molly came to earn a rep as the "masturbation girl" in her poetry circle, and why pussy is probably the best word for vagina, so long as it's not weaponized against you.
Reviews
Whatever, Iceberg chronicles an all-too-familiar queer romance interwoven with polyamory, single parenting, chronic pain, poverty, and aging. Despite the specificity of Ziniuk’s writing, the collection remains relatable for anyone who has ever been in a badly timed romance or burned by a lover.
While reading GG’s new graphic novel, I’m Not Here, I was reminded of a short story by Delmore Schwartz, in which the narrator goes into a cinema and, much to their amazement and dismay, f
Each of the fifteen stories, mostly populated by female protagonists at less-than-perfect moments in their lives, show the work of a generous writer committed to creating characters unapologetically being themselves in all their flawed, misguided glory.
Room with a View
Congratulations to the winners of Room's Poetry & Fiction Contest 2018
We are thrilled to finally share the results of our 2018 Poetry & Fiction Contest! Here's our heartiest of congratulations to the following six writers.
Room's Poetry and Fiction Contest 2018: The Shortlists
After much deliberation, our poetry and fiction judges, Vivek Shraya and Zoe Whittall, have determined the shortlists of our 2018 Poetry and Fiction Contest! Congrats to the following thirteen writers whose work—or works—have been chosen.
